My Sunday Morning

I woke up to a very black and scary looking sky, it was relatively cooler than it had been the day before. I sipped my coffee and toyed with the thought of the Birthday party we were going to attend early in the afternoon. Then there was thunder, lightning and it seemed night was rolling in. The phone rings, it is a call of distress, it's my mom...my car won't start? I'll come over and pick you up and we'll decide what to do, it's too early nothing is open. I brace myself and venture into the stormy weather, fearless and brave...wind lashing at my face. Ok, I was panicking and crapping my pants whilest lightning is flashing all around me. Terror is freaking me out, and I am questioning what the heck I am doing running around in this storm. Oh that's right my mom's battery is dead. I take her to my house and leave her to go change her battery. My dad was a mechanic, he owned foreign cars for the last 30 years of his life and I figure he would have some metric tools. I go into the garage, and the swearing begins. It's dark in the garage, oh there's lights by the front door, but nothing where I need it. I find a trouble light and extension chord, things are going great. I think the wattage on that bulb was 40 watts? So I lift the hood check it out and begin my hunt for tools, maybe just a wrench, a generic adjustable would work? I find open end wrenches in American sizes but nothing in metric, this sucks. I am sweating and my asthma isn't being helped by this venture...I find a pliers that came from the Ark. I get the post clamps off and the battery holder, pull the battery out and off to the store I go. While I am in the checkout, my phone rings, it's my brother. Hey what are you doing? I tell him he asks if I need help and I say no but if he knows where some metric tools are in this huge junky garage? He says he is coming over to fix mom's front door, I say bring tools. I put it all back together, the car starts all is good and then the caped crusader arrives in time with the proper tools. Now I love my brother alot but he is anal to the point that I almost branded his forehead with the 40 watt trouble light. When someone does something he has this unconcious habit of undoing what they did and redoing it to be sure it's right. No one can do anything right but him. This pisses me off and he doesn't think he did it and I was watching him!!! We exchange nasty glares and I am holding the trouble light and his forehead is about 4" away....I take a deep breath and I mention the fact that I should press this on his head...and we both break out laughing. I really just wanted to deck him.......jerk!!!! I am making him a cape!!! All is well, seeing as though HE did it right. I hope to have photos of the puppies with their new outfits on.

Sweat Lodge

I could show you the inside of my house if you were really curious as to what a sweat lodge looks like, (remember I don't have a camera....yet!) but this is a Lakota sweat lodge, which isn't too different from other Nations. I actually am not sweating in the house but every once in a while I feel the urge to poke my head outside and see if it is "Really" as hot as it seems...Oh yeah, it is. I have moved from the couch to the recliner and back to the couch, then I peruse the kitchen for I don't know what and back again. I feel a tad bit caged. Tomorrow is the babies birthday, they will be one. I made them each an embroidered blanket with their name on it. Maggie's is Pink polka dots with Bambi, and Riley is dalmation print with a Dalmation tangled in his leash and his name on it. Joey will be bringing it to them in her back pack!!! I'm sure she will take this job, very seriously. Lois, I will post a photo of her in her tiger coat, that she loves to wear...really!!! My Precious is pretty wild, but when I needed her to fit a doggie jacket she assumed the position, stood still like a statue and allowed me to fit the jacket to her and was terribly serious about this job. It cracked me up, she never sits still. Gotta go it's time for me to take a lap in the kitchen once again. I think I am wearing a path.

Dear Fed Ex Person

I know they just sent my camera on Thursday, but I thought I might get it today....I heard a truck..I ran to the window. UPS...I got the tracking number, I am tracking it. I know it was in Aurora, Illinois on Thursday...today it is in Chicago and due to go out at 1:04am. Please let Fed Ex deliver on Saturday!!!! I will be waiting, early, 5ish. It says probable delivery on Monday...I'm sure it will be here tomorrow...pppuuuulllleeeeezzzzzeeeeee!!!!!! So my lungs feel like I am a chain smoker. I am seriously considering getting an oxygen tank. I want to get a full lung of fresh air, I am grounded to the house until Fall. I am not thinking about the future weather reports, I am thinking how great it is to be home for the weekend. I have been mosaic knitting, two projects actually. One is a small bag and another a scarf, kind of a "Man" scarf. Hopefully tomorrow I can put a photo up. Keep cool, check on old people and animals, and drink lots of water!!!

Bummed out!!!

I went to do a photo for the blog last night, and the flash didn't go off. Ok, the battery may be low, so I put it in the charger and today I put it back into the camera. Excited about the Mosaic knitting photo, once again the flash didn't go off. This camera is maybe 2 yrs. old tops. I love my camera, so out comes the book. The lightning bolt means flash, alright that is done and no flash, maybe it's too light. Down into the basement, no flash. OK, there is a support number to call, Hi, my flash won't go off on my camera....well you can send it in and it will minimally cost $110.00 plus $10.00 shipping and handling or behind door number two you can get another camera, a better and newer model for $149.00. Well is there a service center I can take it too? Yes the closest one is in Oak Park, Illinois. Great options...so I make a house payment or buy another camera. So with a matter of juggling finances I am getting the new camera. Can you imagine minimum 110 bucks? I guess for $40 more dollars I am getting the better deal, actually I think the better deal is they should fix the dam thing, it's probably only the light bulb. Oh and the cards that I use won't work in my new camera of course. Technology gets updated so quickly, sometimes it's hard to keep up. So I am anxiously awaiting my new technological acquisition.

Heavy Breathing

Heavy breathing for two reasons...we are under storm watch. I could just die during storms. I am better than I ever was, but that isn't saying much. My fear of storms goes back to childhood, doesn't it always. We had no basement, fear number one. The newspeople would be telling us to head for shelter, seek a basement, or a place away from windows and doors. You all know the drill. We had no basement and no place without windows or doors. I wanted to be adopted by someone that had a basement. So I would grab a blanket and sit in the corner by the back door. I think my dad designated that as "the spot". Meanwhile he would be walking around outside looking for the "twister" aaaacccckkkkkkk I would beg them to take cover and they would ignore me. Not an easy thing to do, I'm sure they thought I would outgrow it. My little fur nephew is freaked out by storms also, which brings me to a very funny story of heavy breathing.
We have a Monday night spinning group (spinning fiber not bike peddling crap) it was stormy to the point I had second thoughts of driving to my friend Lois's. In came all the "Bags" ( a term of endearment, for all of us woman carrying tons of bags, full of fiber and yarn.) We were about an hour into the night and it was storming, to beat the band. One of the woman had to use the bathroom and when she was through she came out laughing so hard she could hardly speak. Seems she was sitting on the toilet and could hear heavy breathing, very heavy breathing. The only place she knew someone could be hiding is in the bathtub. She slowly pulled the shower curtain aside a little fearful of whom she may find in the tub...it was the dog in the tub, freaked out by the storm. Trighton isn't around anymore but he sure has left a great memory.
I am breathing heavy because, I am going to do some "Frogging" after I post this. For those of you that are not knitters Frogging is a term used when you Rip it...get it....Ok, say it three times fast....Kermie....!!! My lesson today is when knitting a sock with a ripple pattern, don't use handpainted yarn....I'm sure I have heard this before, but needed to attempt it to find out for myself.

Kool Aid, Kool Aid, tastes great, wish we had some.....

This is the finished Kool Aid dyed wool, with it I am going to make a Fruit Loop necklace....ahhhh now I have your attention. I am going to felt little slubs onto chainette and make a loop and voila.

This photo is a picture of the demo necklace from my Felting class, "Accessories" at Fiberwood Studio. It was fun to make and thought Kool Ade dyed wool would only add to the fun. Tomorrow, I am going to go to Cathedral Square Market, it is supposed to be cool. Tonight I am going to a bonfire with makings for some mors!!!! First I am having a Cappachino in my new cup set!!! I have priorities.

Nano Nano

Wow!!! We had one heck a storm last night....even I woke up and moved to the recliner downstairs. I am very, very, scared of storms and I just know that the lightning will avoid the huge cherry tree in the backyard and opt for my bedroom ceiling!!! So I retreated to lower ground. This is actually, and I hate to confess to this, the time of year when I have a bedroll down in the basement under the concrete washtubs. I have a little nest down there, just for storms. A gallon of water, a crank/battery radio/flashlight, blankets and some fun stuff. I am virtually 10 steps away from my studio so there are lots of toys. I have had to run down there when I hear a warning siren and it ends up being a comedy of errors!! If ever you try to run somewhere within your home with a cat and dog, you will relate. ie; phone rings and the cat saunters in low gear swinging his tail, one foot in front of you, you can't go around, over, only over. Sirens go off, or sky gets a little threatning, I head for the basement. I have a dog on my heels that thinks we are playing and won't let the cat come down. I have my hand on the doorknob and the cat is playing roll over and stretch, two feet away as I am screaming to "Come Tinker!!! This only encourages him to do a Cello stance and lick his balls, at that point I say, "Kiss them goodbye, while you're at it," as I'm closing the door. This is one thing I am prepared for, the animals are not. They also love to walk all over me when I am laying on the floor, attempting to sleep, under the washtubs. I know just how heavy the washtubs are because I have tried to lift them and they are going to be there after I am dead and gone!!! Unless of course someone takes a sledgehammer to them, which actually crossed my mind, but after thinking the whole job through and the fact that I would have to carry each pail of broken up concrete up the stairs and then get rid of it..I have learned to love thier appeal. And the fact that they are my protection in a storm, is comforting. I have finished quilting the quilt, which is called, the Roman stripe. I have to cut and fold the binding and sew it on. Not bad for 12 years of work!!! Hey is anybody out there?

Solitary Confinement

In these days of heat and humidity, it is best to keep the house closed up and stay indoors. It's enough that I have to work in this stuff, so I look for reprieve when I get home. This is the sun shining though pulled shade in my kitchen. I am through quilting the roman stripe quilt, and now I have to do the binding. It didn't take long to quilt, but it took quite a while to center the piece on the backing and batting. I think my son will like it? I also finished the Moebius purse and felted it and I hate it!!! The handle is as I thought way, way too long and the boucle' yarn got all bubbly, the design that I put on the bag disappeared into the felting? I see a cutting/rearranging coming up. Like I say...I start out making one thing and it turns into another.....

Call us stupid!!!

Please call a doctor, I think the heat has burned brain cells. Or maybe it's the solitary confinement in air-conditioning with all the blinds pulled. This is how a stupid idea is born..Saturday..family sitting together...."Air show is this weekend"......Oh I would like to see that!.....Me too.....I have to do the wash and grocery shop.....ahhhh but it's so darn hot.....well maybe we can just sit in the car and watch it?......That's an idea, downtown is going to be crazy......Hey we could go to the Port, just south of the show.....yeah it's on the lake?.....or we could just try to get downtown? Call me tomorrow and we'll see.
Tomorrow~
Well yuwannago? Yeah, I'm fixing the faucet, but I should be done by then.(this by the way is NOT me).....Hi Mom, wannago watch the air show the Thunderbirds are there, we aren't staying long.....Oh, I'd like that.....pick me up by 1:00pm....(the hottest part of the day has not started till 2:00).....sure, I'll just beep....I'll bring water and Gateraide, don't forget a hat!!!!....I won't....
Beep!!!!!
As I step outside...Holey crap is it hot out....Sweat immediatly starts pouring down my head....Hi Mom, Hi Honey, is Cheryl coming? No she is shopping and washing clothes, but Scott wants to go.....Here comes Scott carrying a baggie with a pipe in it? Oh Oh don't tell me....yeah I put my finger through the goose neck trap..it is really rotten.....Wow, I can relate!!!.....
The ride.
Go this way....why not just go downtown....hey look there's planes there...where....watch the road...I am....where are you going? Downtown, where do you think?.....aren't we going to the port? ......It doesn't look that busy here....we pull into a place...right on the lake, but it is a supper clubs parking lot and the parking dude asks me where I am headed....uuuuuhhhhhh to the air show....park over there across the street...Ok thanks....so I start heading over there and see an empty spot and pull in quickly run out of the car and sit in the grass. The dude in orange starts walking over to the car and mom and my brother are playing chess in the trunk???? Dude in orange gets distracted or sees that the lady is old and used a cane (her old lady prop) turns and starts going back. I am laying in the hot grass in a piece of shade the size of a nickle laughing at both of them. Here comes the payback, my mom brought a blanket she got for her first communion, so we layed that out and I thought my brother was helping her down and she sits on top of me....it's not like I'm not hot enough? Mom? Move over, I am sweating enough for both of us......Well I can't....so I move over...meanwhile nothing is going on in the sky. Let's move the blanket over there, it's more shade, now I help mom up and she digs her three long nails into me...ouch...what? You have ginsu nails, mom!!! Oh sorry...we move the blanket and I help her to sit down, now mind you my mom is 83 and I am helping her sit on the grass...so I am going to grab her around her waist and get a hand full of her boob!!! eeeeewwwwwww mom boob!!! So now we are both laughing so hard she is rolling around on the blanket. Nothing is happening in the sky. There is a hot breeze like that of a Dragon breathing on us, and I already drank the first bottle of water. After two hours of sitting in various positions a plane goes over and they do their jet things and formations and are we assume in the middle of it and my brother says...hey we better go before this thing lets out and we get stuck down here. What? Now? When what I really meant was...why the hell did we come down here anyway? I am home in the air...sweet air....I definetly fried brain cells....

The only way

When it's 95' ,in the shade, there is only one thing to do.....stay inside in the air and look outside. Even the puppies know that. It is too hot to breath, so I filled the puppy pool and had the kids over. I was planning on working on the quilt but instead I opted to sit and relax. I am on the home stretch of the Moebius bag, and hopefully will make some progress. I am also doing a little koolaid dying to make a fruit loop necklace. I thought what could make fun colors for fruit loops like Berrylicious and Cheery Cherry, Lemon/Lime and Orange, and if all fails I can eat them. A Microwave, is a lot cooler on a day like today and I can still be inside.

A Glimpse of Hell

I know I was in no way even close to hell, but anyone that would have been around me, may have been in danger. They might have seen the horns and tail and breathing fire. What am I talking about? Another attempt at handling menopause. I am on Premarin for the record, please do not email me about Soy and Black Cohosh and other herbal supplements. I have already exhausted those options, yes they worked for a while but soon I was taking bottles of the herbs and wondering what effect an overdose of Black Cohosh would be like. A while ago my Dr. suggested I attempt getting off Premarin, he advised a depression drug called Loza something for hot flashes, so I agreed , one pill and I had rubber band legs and couldn't focus on anything, so I quit that. Back to the Pregnant horse pee pill...once again experiencing horrendous constant hots, I thought I would revisit this road. He again said anti depressants and having a short memory and knowing it wasn't the same drug, he gave me some samples of Effexor alias a walk in hell!!! I dutifully took my pill last night before bed per directions and went to bed. I am a sleeper, I go to bed circle twice and I am sleeping, I may or may not have to check out the bathroom once during the night it is not at this point mandatory. I like to sleep. Around 11:30pm, it started, waking up for no apparant reason, sweating? I don't normally have night sweats? Go to sleep you have to work tomorrow, Ok I will try, my skin starts crawling my hands and feet are burning and my lips feel numb. Do I call 911? Just go to sleep, it will pass...like hell, all night this went on trembling and nervous and anxious and sweating and Oh my God I wanna sleep. I wanna die...no not yet not because of this stupid anti depressant pill, a quarter inch by half inch little pill. It will run it's course and I will feel better....I hope. I get up to call into work and I am so dizzy and have a headache to end all headaches, this starts another spin, it's going to rain, I have a rain migraine, go to sleep, just go to sleep. It is 6:30pm and I am starting to feel normal, this is a time released capsule and I do hope I don't have another "release". In this little episode of terror, I have come to embrace my hot sweaty head....I will relish each drop of sweat, running like a river down my face. I can do this, you never hear of someone dying from menopause...till now!!! Did I mention how much I love Premarin!!!! I may get my own horse ranch.

Quilting revisited

I kind of like not running to shows each weekend. I enjoy digging up old projects for "me". I started working on this quilt...mmmm maybe 10 years ago...then again maybe more. It was for my son's bed, what was I thinking. I picked an "ehem" easy pattern with vibrant colors. It must not have gone together that easy or it would have been done!! So I drug it out to finish it this time. Don't get smart and start taking bets on the finalization of yet another project. I love the intense color of this quilt so much I may keep it and hang it somewhere? That would mean painting, and I still have not painted my living room...I figure I will wait till Fall. The paint fumes kill me, so I need to open the windows and it has to be cool or I will combust. Besides I want to play!!! Vacation is over and off to the salt mines tomorrow. I teach a felting accessory class this Thursday, at Fiberwood Studio.

Happy Birthday Joey

My fur kid is 8 years old. So what would a birthday be without a party. Her cousins came over and spent the day and some of the night. We wanted to make So mores` but the sqeetos decided an outdoors party was just what they wanted for dinner too!!! Well more on our party later.

Anatomy of a purse

I am working on a Cat Bourdo Moebius ring purse. I love the concept of a Moebius ring, it is mystical and of course I don't have any purses....fact is I don't carry a purse. But....as I get older, my pant pockets are getting too small to hold all of my critical gear. Remember when we were young and the staple purse contents were, hairbrush, lipstick, powder, aspirin, Midol, tampax and eyeliner...oh and pictures of our friends and possibly some boyfriends that knew they were and maybe some weren't aware they were. Yes I believe every woman is born with a recessed stalker gene and every so often it reared it's ugly head...showing up at the same places, driving by their house to see if....to see if...thier light was on???? Whatever that was about? Now my purse would be full of things like...rescue inhaler, epipen, migrane medicine, sunglasses, kleenix, extra bifocals ...chapstick...can't be without chapstick, that could be a whole chapter in itself. Oh and don't forget your medical card and credit card, frequent buyer punch cards for every store or coffee shop in the greater United States. Knitting, for heavens sake don't forget some small knitting project and drop spindle.. I can't wait to get my purse done...It is a knitted felted purse so I do hope it's big enough to hold all my junk.

My Mission

My mission if I choose to assume it...is to at least do an inch, if not more on my Navajo rug weaving. This is kind of like a diet, which is for me baby steps. If I make it seem ridiculously easy to accomplish, my attention span may just let me do it. Now if perhaps I say I will finish this rug in this week...by Sunday I will still be looking at it unmoved in the corner in my living room. I truley am attention deficit, my family will vouch for that. The good thing is, I have learned to make it work in my favor. I have projects of different degrees of intensity, or ease and work on them accordingly and then when I am near finish, I either push to finish or take my sweet time in doing so. Sometimes I notice it does affect my everyday living...such as...cleaning. I will be sipping on my first cup of coffee for the morning and then I have this fleeting thought that I should dust. So I meander to get the swiffer, and pass by the ball of yarn in the basket to go downstairs when I think....I could make something really cool with this yarn, let me see if I can find needles that would give me the right gauge to knit this something? Oh look here is a book on knitting projects sitting in a pile by my chair....I think I will go through this pile of books and weed out the books and magazines, that I don't need, by my chair. Parting with any of these is futile, oh I really like this design. Ok I will throw out this piece of paper, which amounts to a blow in from the printing company. Ok I could use some music while I am going through this pile of books, oh a book on drawing, gosh I have not drawn anything for a while. Where is my Ipod? (Walking to find my Ipod, I pass the swiffer) picking up the swiffer and plugging in my Ipod, turning on Disco (doesn't everyone clean to disco music) Clean who said I was cleaning? So I run the swiffer over the TV and an end table and hey there is my drawing pad, and colored pencils. I should draw something...after a half hour....where did I put my swiffer? Oh here it is, on the coffee table next to my kalidescope...laying back on the couch with the kalidescope...thinking I love looking through these, it is so relaxing. I should change the music though this isn't relaxing music...Donna Summers, Working hard for the money!!! Was I working? Oh yeah, I pick up the swiffer and decide I would rather vacuum right now and the good thing is once I start vacuuming I pretty much stick to it. Not like the fleeting swiffer!!! So I think I am going to weave right now!!! Well maybe, after another cup of coffee. I will keep you posted on the weaving process.

Rufus

For the Holiday, I had all my family over and a friend that I don't see often stopped by with her newly adopted fur child. Well he isn't exactly young, he is an older gent, with lot of medical issues. A friend of hers was wintering in Arizona, and had that unexplainable urge to go to the local dog pound and came home with this mottled little old man. They don't exactly know Rufus's history, he was picked up as a stray, but I know that he was put in the hands of someone that loves him and treats him with love and affection, some humans never have the chance of knowing. When she picked him up he was shaved because he was a little matted and grubby looking. He gets brushed and pampered, like a spa client. My girlfriend had heard of her friends newly acquired adoption, and as fate would have it my friend wanted him. She felt he deserved a good life, in his golden years. Well he is getting the good life. He could not have picked a better owner, he has hit doggy lottery. He has the softest little ears and is the cutest little foxy faced doggy ever. He has major medical issues, high blood pressure, enlarged heart, some coughing spasm not to mention he is hard of hearing...all this kind of makes him even cuter. His little legs look like he is wearing Navajo leggings, (of course he is an native Arizonite) and he has a curly little tail. I couldn't help but write about him. The party was fun too!!! Hot, but we all just crowded in the living room and had a group sweat actually I was the only one sweating...of course. Well Rufus has just had his 15 minutes of fame!!! Welcome to Wisconsin Rufus!!!